1541 Tasting Notes

Strong and comforting sweet and grainy aroma with a prominent cocoa note. First steep is sweet, grainy and nourishing. Second and third move into earthy territory with dominant tobacco and rye tastes as tannins and complementary bitterness present. A great breakfast tea.

It’s been years since I’ve had a straight up Yunnan gold tea. Thank you Whispering Pines for including this as a free sample with my order :)

Flavors: Beer, Burlap, Cactus, Cantaloupe, Cocoa, Earthy, Eggplant, Ginger, Grain, Leather, Malt, Malty, Orange Zest, Pine, Roasted Barley, Rye, Savory, Sweet, Sweet Potatoes, Tannin, Tobacco, Vanilla, Wheat, White Grapes, Wood

Preparation
200 °F / 93 °C 2 min, 0 sec 4 g 7 OZ / 200 ML

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90
drank Spring Oolong by Light of Day Organics
1541 tasting notes

Daylon, your sample is threading like silk into this beautiful summer morning. Somebody put their full attention and energy into this tea.

This Michigan-grown leaf gives me great hope that one day I can grow and process tea here in California that, like this oolong, rivals the depth, complexity and longevity of fine eastern teas.

Thank you, Daylon. I can’t express enough gratitude <3

Flavors: Apricot, Butter, Camphor, Cedar, Clean, Crisp, Floral, Freshly Cut Grass, Fruity, Incense, Jam, Juicy, Oily, Orchid, Peach, Peony, Sandalwood, Spicy, Strawberry, Sugar, Viscous

Preparation
185 °F / 85 °C 6 g 3 OZ / 100 ML
ashmanra

So happy to see you happy and dreaming of your future teas!

beerandbeancurd

That flavor profile making me weak in the knees.

Daylon R Thomas

It’s really good…and insanely expensive. But I wanted to support local tea growing as much as I could. Their black tea is very good too, which I almost included. I can save some for later if you need me to. I’m very happy you like it!

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80

This past week, I had 4 different 2020 Old Ways Tea Rou Gui over 4 days and this was by far the standout!

My notes are an absolute mess probably because I was more with the tea than concerned about writing legibly.

Complex sweet aromatics, soft in the mouth, blooming vaporous aftertaste. Cooling mineral sweetness.
Warming and drying. Slowed breathing.
Refined, ethereal, silky.
Malty suede.

Flavors: Cacao, Cannabis, Caramel, Charcoal, Cinnamon, Cream, Dark Bittersweet, Drying, Leather, Malt, Mineral, Osmanthus, Peach, Peppermint, Roasted Barley, Silky, Soft, Wet Wood, Wood

Preparation
Boiling 6 g 3 OZ / 100 ML

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55

2020 harvest

I don’t remember much about this. A lighter, fruitier Rou Gui.

Roswell Strange’s note has more to offer than my impressions which have slipped into oblivion.

Flavors: Cacao, Charcoal, Drying, Fruit Tree Flowers, Marzipan, Mineral, Nuts, Oak, Peach, Pear, White Grapes

Preparation
Boiling 6 g 3 OZ / 100 ML

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70

Spring 2020 harvest.

Dark, damp earthy aroma mixed with a darker milk chocolate.

Malty and juicy, bitter flowers like lavender. Catches in the throat on the way down and leaves a sweet mineral finish. Salivary glands tingle – salty. Peach and orchid bloom from the throat while a vaguely minty and fruity wild blueberry persists in the mouth. Floral bittersweet and woody bite is ubiquitous from 4th steep on.

It was nice but… but what? Maybe the throat catch turned me off a little? Am I sad that the spice notes of the rinsed leaf don’t come through in taste?

Flavors: Biting, Bittersweet, Blueberry, Charcoal, Cinnamon, Coffee, Compost, Dark Chocolate, Fennel, Forest Floor, Juicy, Lavender, Malt, Malty, Milk Chocolate, Mineral, Mint, Orchid, Peach, Salty, Spices, Stonefruit, Woody

Preparation
Boiling 6 g 3 OZ / 100 ML
beerandbeancurd

Mmm, that feeling when the bottom falls out.

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April 2022 harvest

Chicken soup, sweet chestnuts and grassy. Viscous, round, bright and juicy. Good aroma, taste and texture. Not a delicate tea — it can handle 200F water just fine, creating a slightly different taste profile compared to the recommended 185F. More of a refreshing, brisk character prepared in a porcelain cup with steeper basket compared to a glass gaiwan.

This tea is over a year old and it is starting to get that dry grassy taste of aging Chinese greens but the overall flavor profile seems like a mix between regular green dragonwell and a yellow tea.

Interesting tea for sure and good but it never fully commanded my attention and appreciation. If this tea appears in Song Tea’s fresh harvest catalog next year, I might buy another bag to see how it tastes at peak freshness.

Flavors: Anise, Bright, Brisk, Chestnut, Chicken Soup, Chrysanthemum, Dry Grass, Earthy, Ginseng, Grassy, Juicy, Nutty, Roasted Nuts, Round, Savory, Sweet, Toasty, Viscous

Preparation
185 °F / 85 °C 0 min, 45 sec 4 g 5 OZ / 150 ML

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Spring 2022 harvest

Soft and nectary sweet gives way to dry feeling and tartaftertaste. Subtle and complex character. Main vibe is tropical fruity-nectar, floral like Angel’s Trumpet and slightly vegetal cucumber mixed with spicy-dry pastoral associations — so many nuances once could pick the tastes apart as a hundred different variations. This is a really nice silver needle. I’m pretty sure this doesn’t contain caffeine or contains very little though I’m not positive.

I most enjoy going very light on leaf in a glass gaiwan. A good tea to mix with blue lotus flower in a large glass pot.

Flavors: Bark, Cream, Cucumber, Drying, Eucalyptus, Floral, Flowers, Fur, Honeydew, Hot Hay, Leather, Lemon, Lychee, Marshmallow, Mushrooms, Musk, Nectar, Nuts, Oats, Pear, Soft, Spicy, Sugarcane, Sweet, Tart, Tropical, Vanilla

Preparation
185 °F / 85 °C 1 min, 0 sec 3 g 5 OZ / 150 ML

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Random teabag pulled from my aunt’s stash.

Groggy first cup of the day earlier this week so I don’t remember much. It was good. Not great, but solid. Lemon myrtle is my favorite ‘lemony herb’ compared to lemon balm and lemongrass. It doesn’t have whatever lemongrass does that can sometimes downright turn me off. This tastes of a high, green, lemony note and is ginger spicy and echinacea-y (if you know, you know). Full body from the echinacea and sweet licorice root but ultimately gulpable.

Flavors: Citrusy, Ginger, Green, Lemongrass, Licorice Root, Roots, Spicy, Sweet

Preparation
Boiling 8 min or more

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94

2021 harvest so 2 years rested.

Sharing a pot on an overcast, cold and breezy morning. Like a glass of heathery, smokey scotch for breakfast. It takes me places but also grounds me right here. This is an expertly smoked tea made with high quality leaf.

Flavors: Apple, Campfire, Cedar, Chamomile, Floral, Leather, Orchid, Peat, Pine, Scotch, Smoked, Wet Rocks

Preparation
200 °F / 93 °C 5 g 17 OZ / 500 ML

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60
drank A1 Rou Gui 肉桂 by Old Ways Tea
1541 tasting notes

2020 harvest freshly opened is smooth but for someone who likes to be shown strength in one or more facets, it is ultimately nothing memorable. I was hoping for more of a caffeinated yancha before heading into a mandatory work meeting tonight that starts in 12 minutes…

Flavors: Charcoal, Cream, Floral, Honeysuckle, Mineral, Peach, Plum, Roasted, Smooth, Spices, Sweet, Tangy, Wet Wood

Preparation
Boiling 6 g 3 OZ / 100 ML
ashmanra

Forgot our time difference and was momentarily horrified that they would call a meeting that late!

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Profile

Bio

This place, like the rest of the internet, is dead and overrun with bots. And thus I step away.

Eventual tea farmer. If you are a tea grower, want to grow your own plants or are simply curious, please follow me so we can chat.

I most enjoy loose-leaf, unflavored teas and tisanes. Teabags have their place. Some of my favorite teas have a profound effect on mind and body rather than having a specific flavor profile. Terpene fiend.

Favorite teas generally come from China (all provinces), Taiwan, India (Nilgiri and Manipur). Frequently enjoyed though less sipped are teas from Georgia, Japan, Nepal and Darjeeling. While I’m not actively on the hunt, a goal of mine is to try tea from every country that makes it available to the North American market. This is to gain a vague understanding of how Camellia sinensis performs in different climates. I realize that borders are arbitrary and some countries are huge with many climates and tea-growing regions.

I’m convinced European countries make the best herbal teas.

Personal Rating Scale:

100-90: A tea I can lose myself into. Something about it makes me slow down and appreciate not only the tea but all of life or a moment in time. If it’s a bagged or herbal tea, it’s of standout quality in comparison to similar items.

89-80: Fits my profile well enough to buy again.

79-70: Not a preferred tea. I might buy more or try a different harvest. Would gladly have a cup if offered.

69-60: Not necessarily a bad tea but one that I won’t buy again. Would have a cup if offered.

59-1: Lacking several elements, strangely clunky, possess off flavors/aroma/texture or something about it makes me not want to finish.

Unrated: Haven’t made up my mind or some other reason. If it’s pu’er, I likely think it needs more age.

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Location

California, USA

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